Manish Arora breaks stereotypes at Lakmé Fashion Week day one

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Feb 13, 2020

Designer Manish Malhotra presented his summer/resort 2020 collection, ‘We Are Family’, at Lakmé Fashion Week on Wednesday, orchestrating an opulent performance featuring drag queens and other creatives.

 
With his latest collection, Manish Arora “celebrates the extraordinary by saluting the spirit of the LGBTQAI tribe,” Lakmé Fashion Week announced on Facebook. The designer’s bright, bold, and eclectic showcase highlighted the creativity of India’s LGBTQAI+ community.
 
Despite the highly theatrical and artistic vision of the showcase, there was a large number of highly wearable items to be found. Bright skinny jeans, printed trousers, graphic sweaters, and maxi skirts featured Arora’s signature whimsical take on traditional Indian aesthetics. Dramatic evening gowns, sculptural headdresses, futuristic bodices, and printed sets were mixed with Arora’s drag queen models’ personal, avant-garde aesthetics to create a bold fusion.

 
“It is eclectic and colourful and is inspired by the LGBTQAI+ community, which is all about happiness, joy and celebration,” Arora told Indian Express about his collection.

“It is about celebrating the extraordinary and saluting the spirit of a tribe that redefines their destiny by daring to defend their dream. This is a collection that fuels their passion and provides a passage for their creativity in an explosion of colour. A family that bonds beyond the biological, a borderless, gender fluid, inclusive assemblage that embraces the creative energies of LGBTQAI+ artistes, performers, Instagram activists, club kids and beauty monsters.”
 
“Today the Indian consumer is fashion conscious and is ready to redefine fashion on the global stage owing to globalisation,” continued Arora, who has showcased collections in Paris for many years.

“The strength and reach of social media has now empowered a world that is digital and which offers an influential platform to the happenings around the world.”